Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.7.11b]

[Aali]

From Halkun: Only Aali Can post in this thread. Other posts will be deleted.


http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.1a.zip

Installation
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (if you used the Nvidia TNT mode before, use the "tntfix" one)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Known problems
Z-coordinates are way off for high-res 3D models, for this release I've adjusted them to appear in front of everything, this leads to many glitches but atleast you can see where you're going.
Movies are not shown (and the skipping routine is a total hack which may break some things)
Some things are missing, some things just look wrong.
The snowboard minigame seems to hang at the intro screen every time.
DirectInput breaks if the window loses focus (so don't use alt-tab)
The camera is a bit "off" in battle sometimes.


If you find any other issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, make sure to note down the module and offset from the error report.

 

[Aali]

In a flash of genius I figured out what was throwing off the Z-coordinates for high-res models

Since I could not get the new models to align with the "old" stuff, I simply threw out the old stuff
The fix is even possible to implement in the 0.1a release, simply replace the config file and vertex shader with the files from the following archive:
http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl_0.1a-zfix.zip

Technical details follow;

The thing I had overlooked is that TLVERTEX (Direct3D vertex type) bypasses _all_ transforms, projection AND viewport, in OpenGL its not possible to bypass the viewport transform so I had to setup a projection matrix to "reverse" the viewport transform, it was this projection matrix that messed up the Z coordinates for "everything else", the high-res models were in the right place all along.

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.2b.zip

Installation
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (if you used the Nvidia TNT mode before, use one of the "tntfix" ones, 64-bit Vista users will have to use one of the vista64bit files)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Known problems (issues marked with an x are already fixed and hopefully wont be present in the next release)
Movies are a bit dark and oversaturated (this was actually a bug in ffmpeg) x
Snowboard minigame has some annoying glitches, but is no longer unplayable.
Alot of small glitches/issues related to blending/Z-ordering. x
Some things are still missing, even though I fixed all those missing battle effects. x
Field looks terrible with custom resolutions*, even if you use a multiple of 320x240. x
Movies do not sync audio&video properly if your system is too slow to play it.
320x224 movies are stretched to fullscreen (320x240 is supposed to be fullscreen, 320x224 should have a black border) x
Sometimes you can't see the text and menus during scripted sequences with special effects and/or fades. Just keep mashing the OK button if this happens.x
Software movie scaling (the nice_movies option) is a bit unstable under the right (wrong) conditions.
Battle swirl is missing. x

Otherwise, this release should be fully playable, if you can stand the minor graphical glitches

If you find any other issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, make sure to note down the module and offset from the error report.

* hi-res patch still works fine and if you're lucky you can lower the resolution without major glitches

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.3b.zip

Installation
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file, the TNT fix is no longer required)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Known problems (issues marked with an x are already fixed and hopefully wont be present in the next release)
That darn snowboard glitch. x
KOTR will crash FF7, don't use it. x
Some textures don't load properly. x
Some custom models aren't shown. x
Blending issues that are so insignificant you won't even notice. (Tifa's slots, healing wind, possibly more)
ff7.exe needs to be started with the install dir as working directory or shaders wont load. (Not going to be a problem unless you use a 3rd party launcher such as FF7Music, see posts further down on this page for a workaround) x

New features in this version
Window mode - FF7 can now run in a decorated window aswell as fullscreen
Fixes for all known crash issues in 1.02 (this is not really graphics related but everyone will want to use these fixes anyway)

There are no more glitches in field when running in a custom resolution (non-multiples of 320x240 have some very very minor rounding issues, but thats it), which means you don't have to (and shouldn't, since it will just add a bunch of glitches) use the hi-res patch. Some credits go out to our good friend TheSaint for this, for pointing me in the right direction, even though I ended up going with a different approach.

So what does all this mean? Well, you don't have to apply any patches but the official 1.02 patch from Eidos to get a fully playable and much enhanced FF7, which was really the main goal of this project

And as always;
If you find any other issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, make sure to note down the module and offset from the error report.

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.4b.zip

Installation
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Known problems
Some very minor graphical glitches.

New features in this version
Support for the French 1.02 version of FF7.
Linear filtering can now be turned on in the config file.
Not really a feature, but a workaround has been implemented for the triple buffering problem, it should work fine with vsync now.


If you find any other issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, make sure to note down the module and offset from the error report.

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.5b.zip

Installation
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Known problems
OpenGL 1.1 support isn't perfect and can lead to crashes and/or glitches.

New features in this version
Support for the German 1.02 version of FF7.
OpenGL 1.1 backend, you will no longer need OpenGL 2.0 (You can't use any shaders without it though)
Fullscreen filters in the form of pixel shaders, I've included an example of a simple bloom shader. (It's also not very difficult to adapt shaders made for Pete's PSX GPU plugins)
Internal resolution is now separate from window resolution, so you can render in a multiple of 320x240 (and get rid of the field glitches) even if you use some other window resolution. There's a config option that does this automatically, and it is on by default.
A whole bunch of new movie codecs. (It should be able to play anything you throw at it)


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, make sure to note down the module and offset from the error report.

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already. Make sure the Nvidia fix is turned off.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Known problems
French 1.02 version will crash at the battle swirl effect, every time.

New features in this version
Framebuffer effects are no longer reduced in quality (and they're a lot faster, too)
Palette animations are now supported.
A lot of bugs and glitches have been fixed.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.1b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Known problems
None

New features in this version
In an effort to stabilize this driver a bit, I will be making more 0.6.x releases as you find new issues, these will have no major new features, only bugfixes.
Once you've found enough bugs in this version, I will release 0.6.2b with fixes for those and so on until you can't find anymore issues

Bug fixes in this version
The french 1.02 version will no longer crash before battle.
The nvidia setting is ignored, so you don't have to turn that off anymore.
Menu and field should be a lot faster (although this may have created a whole bunch of new bugs for all I know :roll


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.2b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Known problems
None

New features in this version
As promised, this is a smaller release, supposed to be bug fixes only, however, I did add an option to use the framelimiter for the battle swirl.

Bug fixes in this version
The gray text problem has been solved.
Some palette "animations" weren't working properly in 0.6.1b.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.3b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

New features in this version
Looping movies, finally
Texture loader should be a tiny bit faster now.

Bug fixes in this version
Fixed a possible crash on exit.
Hopefully fixed the crash in battle introduced with 0.6.1b.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.4b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

New features in this version
None

Bug fixes in this version
Finally fixed the crash in battle introduced with 0.6.1b.
Added some more sanity checking to prevent a few possible crashes.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.5b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

New features in this version
Support for the Spanish 1.02 version of FF7.
Emergency save function that will let you save your progress if the game crashes. (Obviously not perfect but it seems to work well on the world map)

Bug fixes in this version
No real bug fixes but msvcr90.dll is no longer required, this could possibly make Vista happier in some cases and the .zip is a tiny bit smaller too


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.6b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

New features in this version
None

Bug fixes in this version
FFmpeg should be less prone to crashing FF7 when fed bad input.
Movies that cannot be played for some reason will be skipped, instead of just hanging the game.
Significant performance tweaks wrt. palette writing.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.7b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

New features in this version
None

Bug fixes in this version
Some minor blending problems with certain custom models have been fixed.
Added a config option so you can disable shaders without the annoying warning message.
A number of performance tweaks to the OpenGL 1.1 backend.
Framebuffer effects are no longer upside down when scaling or postprocessing is enabled.
Missing FBO support could lead to framebuffer effects not being shown at all.
Fixed another movie-related crash on exit.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.8b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

New features in this version
Onscreen driver statistics/debug information and a built-in FPS counter, both toggleable from the config file.
The following stats are shown when the option is turned on:
Textures: the number of textures currently loaded.
Texture reloads: how many textures had to be reloaded this frame due to palette writes.
Palette writes: total number of palette writes this frame.
Palette changes: total number of palette changes (when a texture changes palette) this frame.
Vertices: total number of vertices drawn this frame.
Immediate mode: number of vertices that had to be drawn in immediate mode this frame. (Immediate mode is used to perform fixups on the CPU, it will never be used when using shaders)
Timer: FF7's timer source, the number is not important, as long as it increases uniformly.


Bug fixes in this version
Some framebuffer effects (with the right graphics driver support) no longer have the black outline problem.
Implemented the EmulateWriteFile compatibility fix in the driver. WinXP applies this automatically to any file named ff7.exe, so if you renamed it it would crash, that is no longer the case. This was also the missing link for wine compatibility, FF7 will now run flawlessly on linux.
Replaced the timer and timer calibration routines with something a lot more accurate, this should make things smoother for vsync users. This should also fix the terrible performance on some multi-core systems. (You shouldn't have to set affinity anymore)


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.9b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

New features in this version
Added the "use_stable_timer" config option that will let you use timeGetTime in case QPC is unstable. You'll also get a warning message in APP.LOG if any instability is detected.

Bug fixes in this version
OpenGL 1.1 backend recieved some performance tweaks and a fix for the color swapping problem.
Minigame framelimiter now applies to coaster minigame as well.
Dumbed down shaders to make them work with Intels sh*tty graphics drivers.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.6.10b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Changelog
Added "use_new_timer" option that can be disabled if for some reason you want to use the original timer.
Fake MIDI mode that doesn't touch anything MIDI related but still keeps FF7Music going.
FF7Music hack for WINE, it won't work in linux without it.
Fixed the bike minigame texture issue. (Not really limited to the bike game, but pretty obvious there)
The crash fixes are no longer optional since they have proven to be stable.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff7_opengl-0.7b.zip

Installation
Run FF7Config to setup sound/midi if you haven't done that already.
Extract the archive into your ff7 folder (where ff7.exe is), run one of the .reg files (64-bit Vista users have to use the vista64bit file)
FF7 will now use the new driver. (To revert the changes made by the .reg file, run FF7Config)

Changelog
Movies are now handled by a plugin, it should no longer crash when it doesn't find a video codec and encoding movies to 15 FPS is no longer necessary to keep it in sync with the game.
Two optional music plugins are provided, both implement the fake_midi functionality, one for windows, one for WINE. They will no longer hang the game while the script is waiting for the MIDI to finish, but there are still some minor timing issues.
Magic effects are no longer loaded in a separate thread, this should increase stability and get rid of some random framedrops.
This is the first version of the driver that supports resized/modified field backgrounds made with Palmer.
The OpenGL 1.1 backend still had the bike game zigzag texture issue.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff8_opengl-0.1a.zip

Installation
Extract the archive into your ff8 folder (where ff8.exe is), FF8 will now use the new driver. (To disable the driver, move eax.dll out of your ff8 folder)

Known problems
Credits loops the squaresoft logo instead of showing names.
"Battle swirl" doesn't look right.
Battle interface is semi-transparent.
Card game grid is missing.
Fullscreen fades are 1 pixel too small.
Antialiasing causes glitches.
Performance is less than optimal.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)

 

[Aali]

http://backup.ninjaloot.se/share/ff8_opengl-0.2a.zip

Installation
Extract the archive into your ff8 folder (where ff8.exe is), FF8 will now use the new driver. (To disable the driver, move eax.dll out of your ff8 folder)

Changelog
Fixed credits and card game grid.
Fixed fade and antialiasing glitches.
Fixed battle interface glitch.
Added support for the US English non-geforce version.
Added support for the Spanish non-geforce version.


If you find any issues, please post screenshots, relevant information from APP.LOG and if possible, a savegame.
If you get a crash, provide a copy of crash.dmp and APP.LOG (preferably in a zip archive, this will make it 10x smaller)